Monday, 26 September 2011

“I have conquered an Empire but I have not been able to conquer myself”

A first
attempt at using the “Le Roi Soleil” warfare in the 18th
Century supplement for Impetus.

Rob (B)
has a bunch of 6mm Great North War miniatures which we thought would
be ideal for this. The army lists provided on the Impetus website
are mostly for the War of Spanish Succession but it was a relatively
easy to throw together a Russian and Swedish army list given the
period. A bit of tweaking meant that the Swedish player would be
encouraged to close to melee while the Russian player would be better
engaging with firearms.

These
were basic army list to enable us to play a stand up fight and keep
things relatively simple as it was our first time with the
Supplementary rules.

The good
news is we already knew the core rules from the amount of Impetus we
play for the ancient, medieval and 17th
Century games we play of which my earlier blogs have commented on.

The
major change is in command and control which varies the command
radius rule. Basically the whole of the army must remain in touch
with the general though this radius can be extended by Wing
Commanders.

There is
also an option to disengage and a variant of the “pilum rule” for
cavalry using pistols depending on whether a nature of nation’s
cavalry doctrine is Shock or Non-Shock.

I took
the role of the Russian with Rob (B) taking the Swedes. I deployed
in three commands. On the left were three lines of Non-Shock Cavalry
with two horse batteries deployed to their front. To their right
were two commands of two lines of infantry with two foot batteries on
either flank. On the extreme right were two units of Cossacks which
were assigned to the right command.

Rob (B)
deployed his infantry similarly but with his foot batteries placed
together on his right. On the extreme right he deployed half his
cavalry looking to sweep around a wood for a flanking manoeuvre. The
Remaining Cavalry was formed up on the left.

Things
started bizarrely when for the first initiative roll we both rolled
double six’s. A draw and both commanders going up a level!

I
advanced my Russians only a short way so as not to spoil the fields
of fire for my artillery which was spread along the length of my
line. I advanced my horse artillery slightly to make sure they would
be in range once the Swedes inevitably advanced to contact.

Initially
I had the best of it with pouring musketry in to the advancing Swedes
and on one roll getting 4 six’s from 6 dice! (6’s being hits in
this game).

The
first line of Swedes was being punished but the fresh troops behind
waited eagerly.

Rob (B)
could have used the “passage of lines” rule in the supplement to
move his fresh troops through the ones which were now getting
somewhat thread bare. However he decided against this because of the
risk of not getting the initiative. – In a turn each side nominates
a command and then rolls, the highest score activates there nominated
command. This continues through the turn until all commands have been
activated. As such it is possible (if your lucky) to conclude a
turn by activating your remaining inactive command and firing on the
enemy. Then nominating it first the following turn and getting
another round of fire before the enemy get to close-

Rob (B)
decision paid off as I managed to get more musketry in to the
advancing Swedes before he charged home. Initially the Swedish
infantry did not have a huge impact but this was because the front
units had been so weakened by the Russian fire as they closed.
However it was not long before the fresh units were in contact and
they really started to go to work on the Russian centre.

The
Russian right was a cavalry versus infantry battle which thanks to us
forgetting the fact that the infantry were sporting pikes and so
should have had the benefit of the long spear rule was a much more
even match than it should have been. These units continued to trade
blows.

On the
left I had a line of cavalry that went to support the Russian
infantry in the centre and protect the artillery while my remaining
horse wheeled slightly to the right to be ready for Rob (B’s) flank
attack (if it ever made it around the woods!).

The
centre was a bloody affair with no quarter asked or given. In an
amazing turn of countless rolled 6’s both commands managed to
annihilate each other. Suddenly there was a wide open space in the
middle of the battlefield where the Russians and Swedes had fought
themselves to a standstill.

Both of
us had lost one command each. Whoever lost the next command lost the
game.

The
outcome on the Russian left was now academic as Rob (B)’s flank
march would not arrive in time and the Russian Cavalry was too far
away to influence the outcome on the right.

On the
right the Russian infantry continued to face down charge after charge
of Swedish Cavalry. It came down to both commands being so weakened
that the next lost unit would decide the game. Luckily I won the
initiative roll and got to act first and so charged my Cossack light
horse in the flank of some very already shattered Swedish horse. The
charge carried and destroyed the Swedes. Rob (B) could not finish of
my engaged infantry and so his Command broke and mine stood meaning a
narrow and somewhat Pyrrhic victory for Russia.

We both
felt that having played Polemos and Black Powder for this period this
was the best set of rules for getting a game finished in an evening.
It may not be as aesthetically pleasing as with the Black Powder
Rules but they are fast, simple and the national rule variants do
lead the player to play in line with that Nations accepted tactical
doctrine.